Apparatus for continuous heat treatment of textile material with pressurized gaseousheating medium



July 3, 1962 ASAHIKO GOTO 3,041,863

APPARATUS FOR CONTINUOUS HEAT TREATMENT OF TEXTILE MATERIAL WITH PRESSURIZED GASEOUS HEATING MEDIUM Filed Jan. 17, 1961 2 Sheets$hee'h 1 FIGJ 17 E a FIG.3

fLs/ u/iro GOTO' 19 lnvenlor Attorney July 3, 1962 ASAHIKO GOTO 3,041,863

APPARATUS FOR CONTINUOUS HEAT TREATMENT OF TEXTILE MATERIAL WITH PRESSURIZED GASEOUS HEATING MEDIUM Filed Jan. 17, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 III Inventor A tlorney Patented July 3,. 1962 APPARATUS FOR CONTINUOUS HEAT TREAT- MENT F TEXTILE MATERIAL WITH PRESSUR- lZED GASEOUS HEATING MEDIUM Asahiko Goto, Nada-kn, Kobe, Japan, assignor to Kobe Steel Works, Ltd, Kobe, Japan Filed Jan. 17, 1961, Ser. No. 83,337 1 Claim. (Cl. 68-5) This invention relates to an apparatus for continuously heat treating textile material such as slivers, yarns, tows and the like of synthetic, staple, artificial or other fibres, with a gaseous medium such as steam at an elevated temperature under high pressure.

Textile fibrous material such as of synthetic, staple and artificial fibres are frequently subjected to the action of various heated fluids such as steam or steam-air mixture to improve the heat resistance and various other properties. For satisfactorily effecting this heat treatment it is required that the treatment be made uniformly at desired high temperature. In addition, it is desired to carry out the heat treatment continuously rather than batchwise. Usually, to maintain a fluid in a heat treatment chamber at a constant high temperature it is necessary to constantly maintain the interior of the chamber at a high pressure. Therefore, in continuous operation, it is very important that no pressure leakage occurs at the inlet and outlet of the treating chamber, through which inlet and outlet textile material such as tow is fed into and taken out of the chamber respectively from and into atmospheric condition which temperature and pressure are considerably lower than those in the chamber.

Furthermore, in many cases, it is desired that the continuous textile material such as tow is subjected to such heat treatment under substantially non-tensioned or relaxed condition to avoid deterioration of the fibre and maintain its desired elasticity. Therefore, the inlet and outlet of the heat treating chamber must be so specifically designed or arranged as to permit the continuous and smooth introduction and withdrawal of such non-tensioned fibrous material without any noticeable leakage of the interior treating medium or high pressure in the chamber.

It is also necessary that no leakage should occur at the inlet and outlet of the heat treating chamber due to a variation in running speed and/ or dimension of the textile material.

Various kinds of apparatus for continuously treating (such as bleaching, dyeing, neutralizing) textile products such as fabrics are known. However, in these known apparatus, the inlet and/or outlet of a treating chamber is merely an opening or slit so that, if the interior of the chamber is under pressure, leakage of the pressure at the inlet and/ or outlet is inevitable. Furthermore, it is usual in the known apparatus that the textile product or material is passed around rollers to be guided or change the direction in the apparatus or chamber so that undesired friction or tension of the fibres is inevitable.

Therefore, the known devices are not satisfactory where continuous heat treatment under increased temperature and pressure of a continuous textile fibrous material under a relaxed or non-tensioned state is required.

Accordingly, it is a primary object of this invention to provide a new and improved apparatus suitable for the continuous heat treatment at an elevated temperature under pressure of continuous textile material such as slivers, tows and yarns, with a heating fluid medium such as steam.

Another object of this invention is to provide an ap paratus of the feature described, wherein the textile mate rial can be continuously fed into and taken out of a treating chamber without noticeably affecting the desired fluid pressure and temperature in the chamber so that the heat treatment condition is kept substantially constant and desired throughout the operation and a uniform heat treatment is obtained thereby.

Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus of the feature described, wherein the textile material may 'be subjected to the heat treatment under a relaxed, free or non-tensioned state.

Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus of the feature described, wherein the continuous textile material such as slivers, tows and yarns is not subjected to any undesired mechanical resistance and damage throughout the operation.

According to this invention there is provided a heat treating tank containing a heat treating fluid or medium under predetermined or desired temperature and pressure and in which is running a conveyor to convey continuous textile material a relaxed or non-tensioned state. Means is provided for supplying the treating medium under pressure to the interior of the tank. It is preferable to associate the supply means with a suitable control device which is adapted to be actuated in response to the thermal condition in the treating tank so as to control the supply means to keep the said condition substantially constant.

Textile material feeding means is provided adjacent one end of and above the tank. Said feeding means comprises a liquid receptacle and a nozzle arranged at the bottom of the receptacle and opened at its lower end into the interior of the tank. Textile material take-out or outlet means which is similar to the said feeding means is arranged adjacent the other end of and above the tank. The liquid level in the receptacle is kept constant by means, for example, of overflow system. The continuous textile fibrous material passed through the interior of passed through the receptacle of the feeding means downwardly and fed into the tank through the nozzle. The textile fibrous material passed through the interior of the tank by being conveyed by the conveyor is then taken up and passed upwardly through the other nozzle into the receptacle associated with the take-out or outlet means. Each of these nozzles is provided with fiuid receiving sealing grooves and is so constructed that when the textile material passes therethrough the pressure in the tank is balanced at the nozzle with the downward pressure exerted by the liquid in the respective receptacle. The nozzle is so formed that the textile material can freely pass therethrough without any undesired mechanical resistance which will cause damage of the material.

Means is further provided for dropping, while preferably swinging across the width of the conveyor, the textile material fed into the tank through the nozzle onto the travelling conveyor so that the said material is continuously delivered on the conveyor describing a wavy shape longitudinally of the conveyor. Thus the material will be subjected to the action of the heating medium in the tank in the course of passing therethrough on the conveyor in a relaxed condition. The running speed of the conveyor may be controlled so as to vary the period of time of the heat treatment when desired.

The liquid receptacle at each of the inlet and outlet of the tank or heat treating chamber is a kind of liquid type seal, but it should be appreciated that, according to this invention, the liquid type seal is not the sole sealing means and not directly connected to the heat treating vessel but is essentially associated with the grooved sealing nozzle and is connected to the vessel through said nozzle. This particular structure and arrangement make it possible that the fibrous material is directly fed in and withdrawn smoothly from the heat treating vessel without any mechanical direction changing or guiding device such as rollers, rods, deflectors and the like which would cause unfavorable tension and excessive friction. This advantage is not expected in a known apparatus wherein a liquid the apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a conveyor with textile material thereon;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged vertical section taken on the line II of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a vertical section of a grooved sealing nozzle which can be employed in the apparatus of this invention;

FIG. is a section taken along the line VV of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is an enlarged section taken along the line VIV I of FIG. 4.

Referring to the drawings, particularly to FIGS. 1 and 3, there is a heat treating tank 1 which usually is in a horizontally arranged cylindrical form and whose interior constitutes a heat treating chamber, through which textile material such as sliver is conveyed in a manner as here inafter fully described.

Both ends of said heat-treating tank 1 are air-tightly closed respectively by panels 2 and 2 in such a manner that they may be opened in case of necessity. The tank 1 is supported and secured adjacent its one end on a support 3 and adjacent the other end on a support 4. The support 3 is fixed on a beam 32 arranged longitudinally of and below the tank 1, while the support 4 is slidable or movable on the beam. A plurality of rollers 5 are mounted on the bottom of the tank 1 and between the supports 3 and 4. By this construction a longitudinal extension and contraction of the heat-treating tank 1 are made possible.

The front (the left as seen in FIG. 1) of this heattreating tank 1 is the inlet side and the rear is the outlet side. The top of the tank is provided, at said inlet side and outlet side with vertical drums 6 and 7 respectively. These drums communicate at the bottom with the interior of the tank 1 as shown in the drawings.

In the drum 6, there is provided a pair of feed rolls 17, 18. The roll 17 is rotated at a predetermined speed by a shaft 17' which extends outwardly of the drum 6 and is connected to a suitable source of power (not shown). The other roll 18 normally is in pressed contact with the roll 17 by means, for example, of a spring 22 so as to be rotated by said contact without slip. Means (not shown) may be provided for moving the roll 18 to or away from the roll 17. Below the rolls 17 and 18, there are provided nozzles 33' and 33 directed to the roll surface for spraying water under pressure thereon to prevent fibres from adhering around the roll face. The pressurized water may be supplied to these nozzles 33', 33 through a pipe extending into the drum 6 from outside thereof.

An endless conveyor belt 19 is supported by a pair of rollers in the usual manner to travel longitudinally of the interior of the tank 1 in the direction indicated by the arrows on sliver 26 (FIG. 1).

Within the drum 6 and below the pair of feed rolls 17, 18, there is arranged a traverse guide 36 in the form of an inverted hollow frustum. The guide 36 is carried by a reciprocative shaft 43 extending across the interior of the drum 6 and outwardly thereof. The shaft 43 is reciprocated by any suitable manner so that the guide 36 carried thereby will reciprocate, within the drum 6, above and across the width of the conveyor 19 within the drum 6. In other words, the shaft 43 reciprocates in the direction at right angles to the direction of travel of the conveyor. In the embodiment shown, the shaft 43 is movably supported by bearings 42, 42 outside the drum 6. As well shown in FIG. 2, there is provided a rotating disc 37 having an eccentric pin 38 projecting therefrom. A slider lever 39 whose one end is mounted on a fixed pivot 4 engages at its slot with the pin 38. The other end of the lever 39 is engaged with a pin 40 projected from the shaft 43. The arrangement is such that the shaft 43 is reciprocated as the disc 37 rotates. Since the shaft 43 extends into the drum 6 from the outside it is necessary to provide a suitable sealing means 44 at the entrance of the shaft 43 on the wall of the drum. Similar sealing means is also provided for each of the shaft 17 and the pipe leading to the nozzles 33, 33'.

Above the drum 6 there is provided a liquid receptacle 13, the bottom of which is connected to the upper end of a grooved sealing nozzle 16. The lower end of the nozzle 16 opens into the interior of the drum 6. The opening of the nozzle 16 into the drum 6 is in alignment with the nip between the rolls 17 and 18.

The details of this grooved sealing nozzle 16 are as shown in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6. As shown, the nozzle body consists of a casing 46 having a vertical bore therethrough. The upper flange formed on the casing 46 is connected to the bottom of the receptacle 13 and the lower flange is connected to the entrance or inlet portion at the top of the drum 6 on the treating tank 1. The bore of this nozzle comprises an upper bore 47, lower bore 47 formed in the casing 46 and a groove 48 cut at the top portion of a movable nozzle part 49 which is inserted in a traverse space formed in the casing 46'. A projection 50 of a cover plate fixed on the casing by means of bolts as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 is fitted into the open end of the groove 48 to define the bore with the nozzle part 49. The part 49 is externally threaded at the other end portion which is thread-engaged with a nut connected to a handle. The bore 48 communicates with the upper bore 47 and lower bore 47'. The nozzle part 49 is adapted to be moved forwardly or rea-rwardly in the transverse direction of the casing 46 by rotating the said lever so that the cross sectional dimension of the bore 48 may be adjusted in accordance with the thickness or cross sectional dimension of the tow or fibrous material to be treated. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 6, the inner wall of the bore 48 is formed with a plurality of inner circumferential narrow recesses 48a. The upper edge of the bore 48 and the adjacent lower edge of the upper bore 47 are trimmed so that there is also formed an inner circumferential recess 48b. Similarly, there is formed an inner circumferential recess 480 between and by the lower edge of the bore 48 and the upper edge of the lower bore 47'. Thus, a series of fluid receiving sealing grooves is formed by these bores 47, 48, 47' and the plurality of narrow circumferential recesses or grooves.

The receptacle 13 is filled with a liquid such as water and the level is kept constant and at a height predeterrnined by any suitable *manner such as an overflow pipe 14. A pair of guide rolls 12, 12 is arranged above the receptacle.

Textile material such as sliver and yarn to be treated, which is designated by the numeral 26 in the drawings, is'guided by the rolls 12, 12 and continuously passed through water in the receptacle 13 and the peripherally grooved nozzle 16 downwardly into the drum 6.

In this case, the fibrous material 26 passes downwardly through the upper opening 47 of the casing 46, the bore 48 of the nozzle part 49 and the lower bore 47' of the casing 46, and into the drum 6. The cross sectional dimension of the bore 48 is preadjusted (by moving the nozzle part 49 with respect to the projection 50) so as to be approximately equal with or slightly larger than the cross sectional dimension of the fibrous material to be treated. Therefore, the clearance between the fibrous material and the wall of the bore 48 is very small, whereas the clearance suddenly increases at those areas where the narrow circumferential recesses exist. Thus, an upward or outward leakage of the pressure in the tank 1 through the nozzle is kept very small, and the interior pressure and temperature of the treating tank 1 are Well naintained, while the introduction of the fibrous material :an be carried out smoothly.

In the drum 6, the material or sliver 26 is positively Julled downwardly by the feed rolls 17, 18 and dropped nto the guide 36*. From the guide 36, the sliver 26 is ielivered onto the running conveyor 19 as well shown 11 FIG. 3. Since the guide 36 is reciprocated across the width of the conveyor as described before, the sliver 26 will be conveyed on the upper run of the conveyor 19 describing a wavy shape (at equal pitch) longitudinally of :he conveyor as best shown in FIG. 2.

In the vertical drum 7 provided adjacent the delivery and of the tank 1, there are provided a plurality of pairs of guide rolls 20, 20 and 21, 21. Similarly to those assoziated with the inlet or feed drum 6, there are also provided a pair of take-out rolls 24, 24 (which in this case are take-out rolls), receptacle 23 associated with an overhow pipe 14- and grooved sealing nozzle 16. This grooved sealing nozzle 16" is identical with the previously explained grooved sealing nozzle 16 so that leakage of pressure is substantially prevented.

Adjacent the end of upper run of the conveyor 19, the sliver 26 is taken-up and passed through the interior of the drum 7 upwardly while being guided by rolls 20, 2t) and 21, 21, and is then passed through the grooved sealing nozzle 16 and receptacle 23 upwardly by being positively pulled by the rolls 24, 24.

Thus, each of the grooved sealing nozzles 16, 16' is so formed or constructed that when the sliver 26 is being passed therethrough the pressure in the tank 1 is balanced at the nozzle with the downward pressure exerted by the liquid in the respective receptacle. It will be understood therefore that there is an equilibrium of pressure at each nozzle while in operation. Usually, the nozzle is so formed that the said balance or equilibrium of pressure is attained when the textile material such as sliver passing through the nozzle occupies about 65-85% of the cross sectional area of the nozzle.

Liquid or water is continuously supplied to the receptacles 13 and 23 through a supply pipe 25. By means of the overflow pipes 14 the liquid in these receptacles is maintained constantly at a predetermined level.

An auxiliary exhaust pipe 15 may be provided between each liquid receptacle and its associated nozzle.

Any hot gas, steam or vapor which may leak out of the drum 6 or 7 through the corresponding nozzle is also balanced in the sealing grooves by the pressure of the liquid in the corresponding receptacle. The liquid in each receptacle is heated by contact with the hot steam or gas in the heat-treating tank and by heat conduction from the latter. However, since the volume of each of the receptacles 12 and 23 is very small and the amount of heat required to heat water therein may be small. Therefore, this heat is negligibly small when taken as a heat loss of the heat treating tank 1.

The textile material passing through the receptacle 13 will be preheated by the warm liquid in the receptacle before entering the drum 6.

A plurality of pressurized fluid supply pipes extend into the interior of the tank 1 to supply the pressurized fluid such as steam into the tank 1 from a main supply pipe 1%) through respective control valves 9, 9. Each of the control valves is associated with a suitable automatic control or thermostat device 45 which is adapted to be actuated in response to the thermal condition of the interior of the tank 1. For this purpose, each device 45 is associated with a temperature sensitive means 11 located in the tank 1 as shown in FIG. 1. The arrangement is such that each valve 9 is automatically opened or closed in response to change in temperature in the tank 1 so as to maintain the temperature of the interior of the tank constant (predetermined) at all times. The operation and construction of the control system of this type are well known to those skilled in the art so that no further explanation would be necessary.

The bottom of the tank 1 is connected with steam traps 28, 28' through drain valves 27, 27' respectively. Associated therewith are by-pass valves 29 and 29' respectively. By this arrangement, the liquid or water condensed collected at the bottom of the tank during the operation is automatically drained. It is preferable to utilize this condensate to pre-heat the water to be supplied to the nozzles 33 and 33' for the feed rolls 17 and 18.

Although the speed of the conveyor 19 is determined depending upon the period of time desired to effect the heat treatment of the textile material, it should be considerably faster than the speed of feeding of the textile material in the drum 6 or the surface velocity of the rolls 17, 18, so that the textile material 26 such as sliver is conveyed by the conveyor 19 in the form of wave at relatively fine (but equal) pitches. The surface velocity of the take-out rolls 24, 24' is so selected as to compensate the amount of thermal shrinkage or contraction (or expansion as the case may be) of the material occurred in the heat treatment. Usually, the take-out rolls 24, 24 are driven slower than the feed rolls 17, 18 because it is usual that the material will shrink rather than expand during the heat treatment.

In operation, each control device 45 is adjusted or set to the desired temperature under which the material is to be treated. The running speed of the conveyor 19 is determined so as to obtain the desired residence time of the material in the tank 1 or the desired heat treatment time of the material. For example, when the eifecting length or the length of upper run of the conveyor is 14 111., the running speed thereof would be 1.4 m. per minute if the desired heat treatment time is 10 minutes, assuming that the time of passing of the material through the drums 6 and 7 is negligible. The driving speeds of the feed rolls 17, 18 and take-out rolls 24, 2.4 are also predetermined in co-relation with each other and in relation with the speed of the conveyor.

The textile material such as continuous sliver 26 to be treated is fed into the tank 1 through the rolls 12, 12, liquid receptacle 13, grooved sealing nozzle 16 and feed rolls 17, 18. The sliver is preheated when passed through the liquid receptacle 13. Then the sliver 26 is guided by the swinging or reciprocating guide 36 and dropped onto the running conveyor 19 so as to be conveyed by the latter. The sliver 26 on the conveyor takes a wavy shape of substantially equal pitch and is in a relaxed or free state, so that it is uniformly subjected to the action of the heating medium in the tank in the course of passing therethrough. The condition of the heating medium such as steam in the tank is maintained substantially constant and uniform by means of the thermostatic control and because of the grooved sealing nozzles 16, 16' associated with the respective associated liquid receptacles 13, 23. After heat treated for the predetermined period of time the sliver 26 is taken up and passed upwardly in the drum 7 by being guided by the guide rolls 2t 20 and 21, 21. The sliver taken out of the drum 7 is then passed upwardly through the grooved sealing nozzle 16 and liquid receptacle 23, and then conveyed away through the rolls 24, 24.

According to this invention, particularly because of the provision of grooved sealing nozzles 16, 16' associated with the liquid seal devices 13, 23 respectively for satisfactorily preventing any noticeable pressure leakage, it is possible to maintain the temperature and pressure of steam in the tank constant, for example to C. at the pressure ranging from 1 to 6.5 kg./cm.

The heating tank and other parts of the apparatus may be protected by any suitable heat insulation material.

It should be understood that various changes and modifications may be made in the apparatus as described, Within the purview of this invention. Therefore, the scope of the invention is not to be restricted to the details described which are given merely as illustrative of the preferred embodiment thereof.

The present application is a continuation-in-part of my co-pending application, Ser. No. 793,516 filed February 16, 1959, now abandoned.

What I claim is:

An apparatus for continuously heat treating a continu ous textile material with a pressurized gaseous heating medium, comprising, in combination, a horizontally arranged cylindrical heat treating tank, means for feeding the treating medium at an elevated temperature and under pressure to said tank, a vertical inlet drum arranged on the top and in communication with the tank, a vertical outlet drum arranged on the top and in communication with the tank, an endless conveyor running through the interior of the tank, guide means in said inlet drum for dropping, while swinging across the width of the conveyor, the material introduced into the inlet drum onto the conveyor so that the material is continuously conveyed through the interior of the tank by the conveyor in a wavy form thereon and under fully relaxed and nontensioned state, a nozzle arranged above each of the drums and associated with a liquid receptacle thereabove, said nozzle being provided with a peripherally grooved bore therethrough communicating at the top with the bottom of the liquid receptacle and at the bottom with the top of the associated drum, said peripherally grooved bore having a cross sectional dimension pre-adjusted in accordance with the cross sectional dimension of the fibrous material to be treated so that the fibrous material can smoothly pass through the nozzle without causing any noticeable pressure leakage therethrough, whereby the heating condition within the tank is maintained substantially constant and the material is continuously and uni formly heat treated with the medium in the tank.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,954,687 Yazawa Oct. 4, 1960 

